Filer's Files #02--2000, MUFON Skywatch Investigations
George A. Filer, Director, Mutual UFO Network Eastern
January 13, 2000 -- [email protected] (609) 654-0020
Web Site at www.filersfiles.com. Chuck Warren Webmaster.

IS IT TIME TO MAKE UFOs A POLITICAL ISSUE?

On Tuesday, I was called by Heather Anne Harder, Ph.D., who is running as a
candidate for the President of the United States. She was a genuinely nice
person, but most important to Ufologists she feels that research and openness
in government is needed concerning UFOs. She says, "She knows UFO's exist."
She had her own personal sighting of strange lights that were observed by 24
people. This was followed by an unexplained experience of missing time. She
is well aware that former Governor Jimmy Carter also had a UFO sighting and
made election promises to find out what was going on, but after his election
no answers were given. Even today, former President Carter refuses to answer
MUFON queries about his own personal sighting. She vows to get some answers
if she is elected. Although, MUFON does not endorse any candidates for public
office, Dr. Heather Anne Harder is refreshing in that she understands the UFO
phenomenon. It is delightful to talk to a person who comprehends and
acknowledges the American citizen's frustration with the situation. She
promises that if she is elected, she will demand some tough answers. She
will not accept the usual sly remarks about UFOs from government employees
that work for us. Dr. Harder feels we are being visited and contacted on a
regular basis by an alien presence and further research is desperately
needed.

Dr. Harder indicated that if the UFO community wants to be heard, the
presidential primaries provide the ideal forum. Each candidate is fighting
hard to get a small percentage of the votes. In states like New Hampshire
and Iowa, one voice is worth thousands perhaps tens of thousands of votes.
Once one of these candidates is elected, we would have little chance of ever
talking to the new the President. But each individual voter in the primary
takes on unique importance since so few participate in the primaries. Dr.
Harder suggested that people interested in UFOs, should show up at a caucus
and the various meetings and ask questions about UFOs from each candidate.
Astronaut Dr. Edgar Mitchell stated, research into UFOs might be the most
important endeavor of mankind. Yet most candidates appear to know little
about the subject. Ufology needs a presidential candidate who will demand
answers, and get the government interested. Most of you reading these files
know that UFOs are in our skies, and in some cases creating a safety hazard.
NASA has spent some 20 billion dollars searching for life on Mars, but
refuses to admit the failure of 23 out of 31 probes could have anything to do
with UFOs. They tell me they are not interested in looking at the Soviet
Phobus 2 film that shows a UFO intercepting the probe near Mars. I suggest
we want some answers, not condescending we know what is best for the millions
of UFO enthusiasts. It seems most of the candidates say the same thing.
Perhaps its time to listen to someone like Dr. Harder who will support our
cares and needs. These files are sent to all the presidential candidates and
she is the first one to contact me. So naturally I'm flattered. She feels
the campaign needs citizen participation rather than lobbyists deciding
what's best for you. Dr. Harder wants to have honest and healthy mechanisms
for citizen participation to reclaim the government and reestablish it as
being for the People. She wants to empower the American people to become the
ultimate stabilizing force as the fourth branch of democratic government.
Although, MUFON does not support any candidate for public office, Dr. Heather
Harder is interested in UFOs and how this relates to the average citizen.

NEW JERSEY DISC CAUGHT ON DIGITAL CAMERA

WILLINGBORO -- Jerry Kirk sent me a disc of several shots of a UFO sighting
that occurred on January 5, 2000, at 4:43 PM. The two original digital views
were shot with a Polaroid PDC digital camera without the benefit of
magnification on Sussex Drive just east of Philadelphia. There was another
aircraft flying in the same direction, east by northeast. The disc shots
show a cylindrical UFO without wings or tail assembly. Although trees are
visible in the bottom of the photographs it is difficult to estimate the UFOs
altitude. The craft appeared to head towards the Atlantic Ocean at 25,000 to
35,000 feet or 5 to 10,000 feet above the regular air traffic. Additional
magnification applied to these images, does not bring out any wings or tail
structure. Thanks to Jerry Kirk. The images can be viewed at
www.filersfiles.com. This type of UFO is being observed on a regular basis
and has been involved with near misses with our commercial aircraft. Similar
craft were observed five hours earlier in Pennsylvania.

PENNSYLVANIA THREE CYLINDER SHAPED UFOs

EXTON -- The National Reporting Center reports three cylinder shaped objects
were viewed moving east to west, at 9:50 AM on January 5, 1999. The witness
was walking his dog and looked up to see an unidentified flying cylinder
without wings. He checked his dog and looked up again to see two more
cylinder shaped objects. The witness said, "They looked like white cans with
two rings in black on each craft with no wings or tail section visible." The
first and smaller craft did not fly as straight as the other two. The last
two were about the same size but larger than the first. Thanks to Peter
Davenport and NUFORC. Editor's Note: Editors Note: The photos in New Jersey
and the Pennsylvania description appear to be similar objects. Craft were
observed on the same day both East and West of Philadelphia about 50 miles a
part.

INVESTIGATION OF SEPTEMBER FLORIDA SIGHTINGS

TAMPA - MUFON State Section Director Lorraine Gerber writes, people all over
Florida were reporting fast moving, some slow moving and even hovering
objects on September 7, 1999. These objects were observed in some cases for
up to ten minutes from Navarre in north Florida to Miami in the south. NASA
and NORAD said the UFO reports were caused by the reentry of a spent SL 12
Russian booster rocket body moving from the Northwest to Southeast across the
US at about 5:00 a.m. The primary MUFON investigators were Phil Bayly, Bob
and Jimmy Kruse, Polly Bryan and myself. Phil Bayly, former Air Force
officer and lead investigator calculated the 17,000 mph reentry speed to have
placed the object over Florida for only one and a half minutes.
Investigator's reports showed that witnesses had observed objects going west
to south, east to west, south to east to north for extended periods. With the
help of the UFO Reporting Center, Malcolm Hawthorn, and Art Bell witnesses
were located who gave detailed accounts of their sightings. Some of the
sightings reported by UFORC included: Cigar shaped object over St. Petersburg
at 5:10 a.m., "Something strange in the sky." At Tavares at 5:04 a.m. a
Cigar shaped object with three lights. Orlando, 3:00 a.m. a fireball. South
Miami, 5:03 a.m., three blue-green spheres, (two separate reports).
Poinciana, Lake Wales, Lake Helen, Kissimmee, 5:05 a.m., saw what appeared to
be a meteor breaking up. Changed shape to 13 balls of light with and without
tails, red, yellow, green, blue. Ocoee at 5:05 a.m. saw five upright disks
traveling south at low altitude and medium speed with light beams directly
between each disk.

Ruling out some of the fast moving objects that traveled from a north to a
south direction, Bayly profiled some of the more questionable cases that were
investigated by our MUFON group as well as two that Ann Lieberman, SSD from
Venice investigated. He found that they did not fit into the Russian debris
reentry profile. The following are some of those cases: In Tampa, a witness,
Dr. Lynn Sayne, was bringing his newspaper in at 5:00 a.m. when he saw an
object going from the south to north then east, moving in an irregular
pattern as it changed directions. He said that the object was not streaking.
He also said that there were six F-16s in flight and three had experienced
the loss of their electronics. Sayne said, "In a period of five to eight
seconds their aircraft systems completely shut down." He was aware of the
fact that Tampa emergency vehicles were also alerted. At 5:00 a.m., two
witnesses in Seminole reported seeing an object just above the tree line only
300 to 400 feet away. After changing shapes three times, it was last seen as
a saucer shaped object 75 feet wide forming a cloud around it in a cloudless
sky, and going straight up until it disappeared from view. This sighting
also lasted several minutes. In St. Petersburg, Isle Del Sol, a witness was
awakened at 3:08 a.m. with a silvery white light illuminating her bedroom.
She looked out her window and saw two huge balloon-shaped spheres gliding
northeast over Boca Ciega Bay that were six times the size of the moon.

Three witnesses reported seeing a cigar like object in the west that hovered
and moved slightly. One witness coming from Port Charlotte to Sarasota from
4:45 to 5:00 a.m., observed an object for five minutes at 1000 yards away,
about 800 to 850 feet altitude. The object had windows in ¼ of its left
section and was 225 feet wide. It had a white strobe-like light at the nose
and a blue one at the rear bottom. As a retired fire fighter, he thought it
was a jetliner crashing and that he should stop to see if he could pinpoint
the crash site. It hovered and moved slightly towards the south while he
watched for five minutes. He also saw emergency vehicles circling the area.
Another witness driving west from Myakka State Park saw a similar object for
several minutes. A third witness driving west from Arcadia saw a comparable
object in the west. A significant sighting was reported from Lutz at 5:15
AM, when an illuminated object moved west and five airborne objects moved
toward it as if to intersect. The first object got smaller until it finally
was seen bursting out and then imploding as it disappeared. The witness saw
a total of 15 aircraft in the area some for ten minutes. A witness at 5:00
a.m. in Englewood saw what he described as "six jumbo jets flying together in
unison," illuminating each other, "but they were not aircraft." They were
fast moving objects going from north to south over the gulf, but not an
object reentering our atmosphere. Bayly acquired video footage shot by a John
Vye and shown September 7th on Channels 9 and 13 (FOX TV). MUFON is trying
to contact Mr. Vye. In a frame by frame analysis, Bayly asserts that the
object is doing a barrel roll, first one way and then in the opposite
direction. Reentering debris would not make this kind of maneuver. After
careful analysis Bayly ruled out the possibility that these sightings were
the result of a reentering booster rocket body. Bayly concluded that his
findings on some of the cases do not support NASA's or NORAD's explanation.
Thanks to Lorraine Gerber.

ALABAMA UFO

MADISON -- Aaron Crossley says that on January 7, 2000, I saw an unidentified
flying object on my way to the bowling alley with my friends Tyler, Daniel,
David and Jessica. It was about 8:45 PM, when a bright blue light caught my
eye. "It was extremely bright like a blue fireball, and it streaked across
the sky from south to north horizon in a second." It was moving incredibly
fast. If I had blinked I would miss it. After I asked my friends if they had
seen it, which sadly they had not, Tyler told me that he had seen exactly the
same thing last year while delivering Pizzas, except there were three of them
when he saw them, and they appeared to be flying in V formation. I have to
wonder if Alabama is part of some secret projects flight plan. And what
better place given the reputation of its native residents. I hear numerous
UFO stories around here now that I've come out with mine. Thanks to Aaron
Crossley [email protected].

MICHIGAN GREEN FIREBALL

THREE RIVERS -- Alan Otterson reports that on January 7, 1999, I was watching
TV with my wife with our inside lights on. Alans says, "I was surprised to
see streaking by our window a very bright lime green fireball heading toward
the north." I jumped up and dashed to the door and saw it vanish. Shortly
after I saw another bright light goldfish in color just above the treetops
across the field from us. This light slowly and I mean very slowly moved
southeast toward Three Rivers, Michigan. There wasn't any noise. Thanks to
Alan D. Otterson [email protected]

ILLINOIS FLYING ARROWHEAD SEEN BY POLICE

SAINT CLAIR COUNTY -- In the early hours of January 5, 2000, police
dispatchers started receiving numerous reports of a huge slow moving craft
that resembled an arrowhead just east of St. Louis. It had an unusual
sprinkling of lights defined as a starfield camouflage with three bright
lights on the tail. Milstadt police officers responded to complaints and at
least four policemen claim to have observed the huge craft. The object was
similar to a flying wing or flying triangle with small twinkling lights that
appeared to be designed to camouflage the craft from observers on the ground.
Lebanon, Shiloh, Highland and Dupo police officers reportedly sighted the
large flying object. Scott Air Force Base is near by but the tower was
closed at that time of night. The craft had three brighter lights on its
tail, and flew from the northeast-to-southwest across the Metro East area
about 4:00 AM. The craft was described as two stories high and about three
times as long. The police searched various web sites to attempt to find
likeness of the craft. The only craft that appeared similar was the photo of
a "Stealth Blimp" on the Popular Mechanics Web site. Thanks to Mark Scott and
Ken Young who has a likeness of the photo at
http://home.fuse.net/ufo/camouflage1.html and Millstadt Police
http://millstadtpolice.homepage.com/aircraft.html

MISSOURI UFO SPOTTED BY AIRLINE CREW

SPRINGFIELD -- While flying a B757 a commercial flight at 33,000 feet from
LAX to CLT on December 26, 1999, the two pilots and two flight attendants
were observing an earth satellite-passing overhead from the cockpit. It was
well past sunset at about 7:00 PM CST. The earth satellite apparently flew
into the terminator and disappeared while high overhead. The witness stated,
"Within a moment or so, a white-lighted object overtook and passed us in
fairly close proximity making at least 200 knots more than we were." Our
airspeed was .80 Mach and our ground speed was 483 knots or 550mph. The
object was first noted south of our west to east course at a distance
estimated to be from about 2 to 5 miles. It appeared to be at nearly the
same or a slightly higher altitude. The object showed only a bright white
light that appeared to be slightly disturbed by turbulence, or very slightly
pulsating. Its course appeared constant, as did its altitude. It passed us
and faded rather quickly from sight in about forty seconds.

A query was made to Memphis Center ARRTC as to any possible traffic. The
controller said he had nothing on his scope that could be what we saw. We saw
nothing on our TCAS, set to observe other transponders within 4,000 feet of
our altitude and within 20 miles of horizontal distance. No red (left wing)
position light and no fuselage red rotating beacons were sighted by any of
the witnesses. No magnetic or electrical disturbances on our aircraft
occurred. At least one passenger noted the object pass by our craft from the
passenger cabin. Thanks to Peter Davenport at the National UFO Reporting
Center, www.ufocenter.com Editor's Note: Generally, radar operators are told
not to confirm UFOs and to keep other traffic away.

MEXICO VIDEO

MONTERREY -- Gary Carson wrote, "Recently, on or about the January 4, 2000,
the TV Azteca 3 o'clock News filmed a UFO, motionless near Monterrey." It
was visible for about 10 minutes, then took off. This was my closest
encounter ever, and I was thrilled. The anchorwoman was Rosa Maria De Castro
and the footage was pretty clear. It was sort of hat-shaped object and dark
in color in the clear blue sky. I enjoy your site and respect your integrity.
Thanks to Gary Carson [email protected]

NEW ZEALAND SIGHTINGS

AUCKLAND -- UFO Researcher Karen Lyster writes, I thought I'd pass along a
few UFO sightings. A witness reports, that on December 29, my step son and
his fiancee, who live with us, were awakened in the middle of the night by
strange noises. Two nights later on January 1, 2000, I was awakened by a
noise and a red glow outside with an intermittent white flash. I thought new
years fireworks, but it was 3:00 AM. I tried to get up to investigate but
found I could not move, I tried to wake my partner but could not, my next
recall was that it was daylight some three hours later.

AUCKLAND -- Peter writes: "My 17 year old son rang me at 12:30 AM on January
1, 2000, not to wish me a Happy New Year, but to tell me of his experience
with UFO's!" He was standing on the roof of a five story carpark in downtown
Auckland with a hundred other people, overlooking the Viaduct Basin where the
band Split Enz were conducting a New Year's Eve concert. The band counts
down to 2000 ...3, 2, 1! Suddenly, two red discs appear high up in the sky
above and behind the stage. People seemed frightened by the discs. The UFOs
moved left and then descended at an acute angle. The crowd on the roof top
moves back in fear. By then, the fireworks have started, and while thousands
if not millions of people focus on the big bangs and pyrotechnics, the disks
disappear from view behind a tall building. The discs were 'big' and remain
the same distance apart as they moved. Some of the frightened crowd on the
rooftop start running towards the lift. A natural instinct fueled by fear.
The discs were in view for about 8 seconds. During the fireworks display
more red discs appear in the sky and hover for a few moments before
disappearing. Part of the display involves red flares but these were
distinguishable from the discs by their telltale smoke trails and their
descent to the ground. One of the discs appears to land on a Naval ship
anchored in Auckland harbor. The total sightings lasted for about seven
minutes.

BEACHLANDS -- Peter writes: "I was driving back to Maraetai to deliver a
paper to a subscriber who missed out and saw a horizontal flying cylinder at
7:25 AM on January 10, 2000. It had three segments of white with one segment
at each end and one in the middle. It was high above Waiheke Island and
traveling slowly toward Auckland. What struck me immediately, was the three
segments of this 'plane.' They were silvery white rectangles, one at each end
and one in the middle. It was about an inch and a half long from my
perspective and relatively thin. I stopped the car to have a decent look but
it may have gone behind the gorgeous clouds this morning. Thanks to Peter
and Researcher Karen Lyster at
http://www.geocities.com/CapitolHill/Congress/2301/Directory.html

"A UFO BOOM DOES'T WORRY CHINA'S RULERS

That was the headline on a front page article in the January 11, 2000, New
York Times. The Times is the nation's leading newspaper, and long ago
decided UFOs were not a topic that fits their masthead motto: "All the news
that's fit to print." In recent years they have carried only two UFO-related
stories. One was a sarcastic dismissal of UFO sightings in Russia, which
they attributed to a resurgence of pre-Communist mysticism. The other was a
long report on the Air Force "investigation" of the Roswell Incident,
unquestioningly repeating the assertion that the 1947 fuss was caused by a
Mogul balloon. Oddly, the China story is treated "straight," without the
usual demeaning language. According to the Times, there have been a large
number of UFO sightings in China, and these are studied by several research
organizations that are very "mainstream" in their scientific approach.
Apparently the government is supportive of this research and interest, as
distinguished from the official condemnation of various semi-religious
movements.

"Indeed, a large portion of China's UFO enthusiasts are scientists
and engineers, not the sci-fi buffs or apocalyptic stargazers who are the
stereotype in the United States. Many of China's UFO research societies
require a college degree and published research for membership. The Chinese
Air Force attends important UFO meetings." And quoting a leader of Chinese
UFO research, "In the US, scholars investigating this are under pressure and
have been derided. But in China the academic discussion is quite free, so in
this area American academics are quite jealous of us." The article ends with
another quote that should be taken to heart by American UFO researchers.
"We're very careful and cautious to present things scientifically and to
filter out things that head in a superstitious direction, since there's a
great deal of fakery in the UFO field as well as real occurrence." Thanks to
researcher Bob Durant.

NASA DIDN'T TELL LOCKHEED ABOUT CANYON


D E N V E R - The Associated Press reports, The vanished Mars Polar Lander
probably broke apart in a canyon, The Denver Post reported January 6, citing
scientists who suggested the landing site was the reason for NASA's latest
failure. The $165 million lander was supposed to touch down Dec. 3 for a
90-day mission to analyze the planet's atmosphere and search for frozen water
beneath its south pole. It has not been heard from since it started its
descent after an 11-month cruise, and NASA has not offered a reason for the
disappearance. Members of the Lockheed Martin team who maneuvered the craft
to Mars believe a canyon nearly a mile deep and 6 miles wide in some places
was the landing site, the Post reported, citing an unidentified source at the
aeronautics company who was on the mission team. Orbiter Burned Up The
source relied on "probable" landing coordinates posted online by NASA and its
Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Lab officials acknowledged that they knew the
canyon was in the area. "We believe we landed in a region that was in the
vicinity (of the canyon), but we have no way of knowing whether it hit those
slopes," said Daniel McCleese, the Mars Surveyor Program scientist at JPL.
The loss of the lander came less than three months after bungled
communications between Lockheed and JPL caused the Mars Climate Orbiter to
burn up in the Martian atmosphere. Lockheed scientists were reportedly
surprised to learn that the canyon was inside the lander's projected landing
zone. During the mission, Lockheed scientists steered the craft under JPL
direction. "No one on our side knew that canyon was there," the Lockheed
source told the Post. "All of the sudden, two weeks later, we got this MOLA
data" - topographical maps and images - "and it was like, 'Look at that
hole!'" Thanks to Jan 6, Denver Post.

Editor's Note: Hundreds of Millions of dollars have been lost because of
NASA's apparent unwillingness to share data with Lockheed. The Lockheed
scientists would also be surprised to learn that this area on Mars has
features that appear to be artificially formed assuming they are not a
combination of pixilization and transmission errors. They have been given
descriptive names by NASA such as Nod and Inca City. The Inca City area
located at 81.8°S - 59.1°W, has many rectangular walled areas each about 4
miles across similar to the ancient cities in Peru. Interestingly, the
Inca's believe they were visited by spacemen and celebrate with spinning
wheels that look like UFOs. The site at Nod appears to be an ancient cultural
site with structures. Nod appears to have been used for growing plants and
producing oxygen since the site is on the edge of snow and ice fields
composed of carbon dioxide at 83°S 43°W. NASA's name for Nod is the location
Cain was sent to wander by God in Genesis 4. My speculation is that NASA has
found evidence of ancient intelligent life on Mars, but can not make an
announcement until its probes are successful.

Researcher Carl Feindt has a new web site based on UFO's seen near water at
www.waterufo.net. The site was built by Chuck Warren and is well worth
viewing.

PHOTOGRAPH BOOKLET of some of the best UFO shots available and data on their
propulsion systems. $10.00

THREE YEARS OF FILER'S FILES -- 1997, 1998, and 1999 on CD or Floppy Disc for
only $25.00. The cost includes handling and shipping. An index is included.
Send a check to George Filer, 222 Jackson Road Medford, New Jersey 08055.



US GOVERNMENT UFO PROOF RELEASED: Audio tapes of a genuine UFO Alert at
Edwards Air Force base and studied by the Foreign Technology Division at
Wright Patterson Air Force Base, are now available for distribution to the
public. Sam Sherman's audio documentary tape called EDWARDS AIR FORCE BASE
ENCOUNTER on the night of October 7, 1965, uses the actual voice recordings
provided by the Air Force. During this event 12 high tech luminous UFOs
invade secure air space and came down low over the runways at Edwards AFB.
Tower operator Sgt. Chuck Sorrels spotted them and notified the Air Defense
Command. Sgt. Sorrels is heard on the original tapes and in a new segment
where he verifies the event as it is heard on the archival recordings. The
UFOs are described and a decision is made to launch F-106 fighter
interceptors. You are there for an important part of UFO history. Hear it
for yourself, it's the best UFO tape ever made. Tape cost is $14.95 each
plus $2.00 for shipping -- total $16.95 -- (for overseas orders-out of US -
add $6.00 shipping cost -- total -- $20.95) you can send either a personal
check or money order to: Independent International Pictures Corp, Box 565,
Dept. GF, Old Bridge, New Jersey 08857.

MUFON UFO JOURNAL For more detailed monthly investigative reports subscribe
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Filer's Files is Copyrighted 2000 by George A. Filer, all rights reserved.
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